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2012 Snapshot Archive: Marianne de Pierres

Marianne de Pierres is the author of the Parrish Plessis and award-winning Sentients of Orion science fiction series. Her Night Creatures trilogy for teen readers has been a recommended read by the Victorian Premiers Literary Award and is shortlisted for at Ditmar Award. Marianne is an active supporter of genre fiction and has mentored many writers. She lives in Brisbane, Australia, with her husband, three sons and three galahs. Marianne also writes award-winning crime under the pseudonym Marianne Delacourt. Visit her websites at http://www.mariannedepierres.com and www.tarasharp.com and www.burnbright.com.au

1. You have had a very busy few years and have published quite a few books since the 2010 snapshot – finishing off your Orion Sentients series, and beginning two more! Which new books from you can we look forward to this year?
2012 sees the publication of Night Creature #3, SHINE LIGHT (my gothic teen SFF novel) and STAGE FRIGHT Book #3 of the Tara Sharp paranormal crimes series. I’m working on edits of both of them right now.

2. Looking over your publications to date, as Marianne de Pierres and Marianne Delacourt, you’ve published across a range of genres – SF, SF/F, crime, YA – do you have China Mieville-like plans to publish a book in every genre?
I didn’t know he had that mission 🙂 I’m just writing books that interest me, so who knows where that might take me! No hard and fast goals though.

3. You also have the Peacemaker series up your sleeve – a western-styled SF/F series, which currently exists as a webcomic. What are your plans for the series and the comic in the future?
When the original artist was no longer able to work on the series, I was terribly disappointed and put it on hiatus. But I’ve had a good think about it and have decided to continue. Hopefully issue 2 will be out later this year. It is dependent on the new artist who comes on board. I’ve loved every second of creating this and would hate to walk away from it before I’ve finished the series.

4. What Australian works have you loved recently?
I love Twelve Planet Press’s Twelve Planets novella series. What a brilliant contribution to Australian storytelling! And there are some excellent novels out recently from Joanne Anderton (Debris) and Trent Jamison (Roil) published by Angry Robot books. I’m readingArrabella Candelabra, a fantasy parody by AK Wrox (Mandy Wrangles and Kylie Fox) and laughing all the way through it. I’ve also read some fantastic Australian YA recently. We’re having kind of an explosion in that department; Nansi Kunze, Kate Gordon, Jess Shirvington, Lara Morgan, Ben Chandler, Rhiannon Hart and Michael Pryor, to name just a few.

5. Two years on from Aussiecon 4, what do you think are some of the biggest changes to the Australian Spec Fic scene?
I think the rise of small press in TPP, Ticonderoga and Clan Destine has brought some real staying power to spec fic publishing in Oz. Particularly at a time when major publishers have become nervous about what to buy. The announcement of Genre Con is also a significant sign that we’re here to stay in a way that can’t be ignored.